Dive Brief:

• As more tech enters classrooms, it’s advantageous to students if libraries and IT departments in K-12 schools work together instead of remaining separated.
• One early adopter, eSchoolNews reports, is Virginia's Henrico County Public Schools, where 50,000 students in 70 schools all have their own laptops and rely on strong media and IT department ties —with one employee's job being to act as a go-between for the two.
• Henrico district also has a “technology advisory committee” made up of school principals, teachers, the IT department, the instructional technology department, library personnel, and various specialists, who all act toegether to plan the implementation of new tech in classrooms. 

Dive Insight:

Having a committee or a dedicated staffer to troubleshoot, connect, and coach educators and students on new tech is certainly a good way to bolster engagement and make sure minute errors aren’t getting in the way of learning.

Suzanna Panter, the district’s educational specialist, told eSchoolNews that her experience has shown her that a teacher or librarian “may want to roll out a new initiative quickly in order to ‘keep up,’” while an IT expert “may be more inclined to pull back on the reins a bit and make sure it’s a good solution for a specific application.” It’s also recommended to start small and not be overly ambitious about new tech to make sure everyone is on the same page regarding realistic, achievable goals.